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Illegal Dumping Trend Continues in Bethel
More and more Bethel residents are becoming concerned over the growing trend of illegal dumping of solid waste in remote parts of the town. The illegal dumping sites have one attribute in common—they are off deserted segments of roads out of sight of any building or crowded area, where someone can stop his vehicle briefly and dump his cargo unobserved off the edge of the road. Three such sites are particularly offensive. One of them is on Findley Bridge Road, about three-fourths of a mile north of Findley Bridge. There, on the left, is a very steep embankment about 130 feet wide leading down to the river and running a few hundred feet along the road. It has been used for years as a dump by those who want to avoid paying the fee to dispose of their trash at a landfill or transfer facility. We’re talking big-time dumping here, not just a few random pop bottles or beer cans. Bethel’s Green Up Day coordinator Chris Hemond, who lives nearby, has reported old refrigerators, television sets, computers, sofas, armchairs, tables, bucket seats from a sports car, miscellaneous auto parts, fiber glass home insulation, animal hides, and (particularly disturbing because of toxic potential) used auto batteries. On top of all that, there are plastic bottles of all kinds, not to mention bags of household trash. Another favorite site for illegal dumping is up North Main Street towards Sanders Road. Former selectman Tom Brennan, who lives nearby, reports much of the same sort of dumping as in the Findley Bridge area. "I’ve even found deer carcasses wrapped in plastic," he told The Herald. Yet another favorite dumping site is by Locust Creek off Route 12. Mel Washburn, on whose property some of the illegal dumping takes place, says that it’s been going on for years. Just recently someone left an old mattress on the banks of the creek. Hemond, Brennan and Washburn remove the offending material when they can, but the heavy stuff requires professional haulers. Town manager Dell Cloud told The Herald that from time to time he finds evidence in the trash as to who did the dumping. The town then sends bills to the offenders, and he noted that the bills are invariably paid. "There are stiff penalties in Vermont for illegal dumping of solid waste," Cloud noted, "and conceivably the town could initiate a policy to proffer legal charges, at least against repeat offenders." Meanwhile Cloud is looking into the procurement of warning signs to be posted in some of the areas where people illegally leave their trash. ____________ |
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